And then the doorbell rings
by lolcode
Summary: Tails has a crush on Cream, and he daydreams about her. Also first try in a romancy direction.


Quick little something I wrote in essentially one evening, inspired by watching a video of (almost) the same name. Really, all this has in common with that video is the title :P

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic etc, though you already knew that

* * *

**And then the doorbell rings**

Tails checked the clock for the hundreth time today: 17:04 already. He had recently ordered a bunch of new parts for his plane, the X-Tornado, and was anxiously awaiting the arrival of them. He had hoped they would come today, but that hope was slowly fading now.

He was lying under the X-Tornado, working on it, preparing it for the new parts, but it wasn't going as fast as it should. In fact, he was way behind schedule, and it might just be better if they didn't arrive for another week. He developed a crush on Cream lately, and spent way too much time thinking about her. If only he wasn't so afraid to tell her...

And then the doorbell rang: the package! He went to answer it, and opening the door revealed a woman wearing the post office uniform, complete with cap, and a large delivery truck in the background. 'Yes! It's here!' She wanted him to sign something, well you needed to sign for anything these days, and it were probably his new plane parts, so he did. He gave her back the paper, she would get his package and give it to him now.

But she just stood there, smiling, staring at him. He waved his arm in front of her, trying to get her attention, but there was no reaction. "Uhhh hello? Madam? My package?" Finally, he got a reaction from her, but all she did was give him back the paper he just signed. What was so special about the paper? He knew what a delivery confirmation looked like, and this was just one of them.

Until he gave it a better look. While the general layout was exactly the same as a real one, the text was different. It was just lorem ipsum.  
Except for one line, just above where he put his signature. He read, very carefully, word by word:  
_I, the undersigned, am going on a date with Cream the Rabbit tonight_

It took a while before he grasped what all those separate words meant together, as a sentence, and his eyes went wide when he did. He didn't believe it, and read it again. But there it stood, black on white, that he was going out with her tonight. And had signed for it. This couldn't be happening! Someone _had_ to be playing a joke on him here! 'A very good joke, with the delivery truck and all that, but still, just a joke.'

He remembered the smiling mailwoman, but when he looked back to her, she wasn't there anymore. In her place stood Cream, the girl of his dreams, wearing the most beautiful dress he'd ever seen. This wasn't a joke, this was real. She was still wearing the cap, and held the mail uniform in her hands, but quickly ditched both of them as he looked at her. She was gorgeous, and was slowly walking towards him. She threw her arms around him, and then... she kissed him. The sun shining, the birds singing, the kiss melting his heart. The paper he signed, and now completely forgotten about, fluttering to the ground on the gentle breeze. Everything was so perfect, and happening so fast, his mind started to lag behind reality.

He just stood there, staring at her as she broke the kiss and started walking back towards the truck. She was already halfway, before he registered his mind screaming to follow her. But his body didn't listen, and he remained motionless, still mesmerized. She had now reached the truck, and opened the door to the driver's seat, when he remembered at least something. 'Shouldn't I be the one doing that for her?' Finally, his legs listened to him, and he started to run towards her, "Cream! Wait I-"

She looked at him, silencing him, and stepped out of the truck again. He stopped dead in his tracks, his gaze slowly moving in the direction she was pointing to, and came to rest on the rear of the truck. He was astounded to see the sides of the truck folding away, revealing a bright red cabrio sports car. What had once been the side panels of a delivery truck, were now serving as a very gentle ramp towards the car. It was fascinating, but he remembered how he hadn't done what a gentleman should before, and now was his chance to make up. He took Cream's arm, escorted her to the car, and opened the door for her. After she gracefully slid in and he had closed her door again, he walked around and took his place in the driver's seat. He was in the car of his dreams, with the girl of his dreams. And it wasn't a dream: he could feel the steering wheel, and gear lever.

They had dinner in a nice restaurant, not too exclusive or overexpensive, but well above your average restaurant. She chose a salad with lots of tomatoes and a freshly squeezed orange juice, and he chose the cordon bleu with fries and a coke. For dessert, they shared a coupe of ice, with whipped cream and a lot of strawberries. As he was supposed to, it was Tails who paid for it.

On a typical date, this is where the couple watched a romantic movie, but Tails decided to surprise Cream this time. While he had nothing against sitting next to her and holding hands for 107 minutes straight, why do it in a movie theatre, if you can do the same on the beach? It was quite a long drive to the beach, almost an hour, but it was worth that. The beach was almost deserted by the time they arrived, though the sun wouldn't set for another hour. They had a long walk over the beach, holding hands, just enjoying the silence. The waves were small, making just enough noise to let know they were there, but not annoyingly noisy. When the sun was starting to sink behind the horizon, they stopped, and kissed again. Their bodies pressed against each other, and through the fabric of Cream's dress, he got an idea of just how soft her fur must be. They stayed in that position until the last of the sun had disappeared, sometimes watching each other, other times watching the sun as it said farewell to the end of a beatiful day. With the sun disappearing, so did a source of warmth, though their bodies were generating more than enough to keep them warm for a while.

When it really started to cool down, they agreed that they should start walking back now, if they ever wanted to get home. The moonlight lit the path for them, together with a million stars in the cloudless sky. With a bit of fantasy, you could see all sorts of shapes in them, an activity that proved so interesting that they completely lost track of time, and how far they had walked. It wasn't until Cream pointed out a couple of beachclubs both of them were sure they hadn't walked past the first time, that they realized they walked too far.

They didn't care about it anymore, they had each other, and a whole beach for just the two of them. None of them wanted it any other way.  
It was almost a shame when they finally reached the car. He programmed the navigation to his home, totally forgetting that maybe, he should offer to bring Cream home first. But she made no mention of it, instead turning on the radio, seeking an enjoyable music station. She didn't turn the volume up very loud, just to have something in the background between the revving of the engine. Tails was totally ignoring the navigation, having turned the annoying voice all the way down until it was off, using it more as a compass. He avoided the highway, via which they had come, because is was too cold now to travel at those speeds with the roof still down. So he sticked to the winding sideroads, giving the big city that lay between them and his home a wide berth. While Cream wasn't as interested in the car as Tails, the detour he took offered some great views. They passed a lake, where the moonlight reflected in the calm water. A mountaintop stood in the distance, sometimes it was visible, and other times it was hidden by trees next to the road. Once, they stopped at a waterfall for a good quarter of an hour, just holding hands while taking in the magnifiscent sight.

It was only when they arrived back at his home, and it was long past midnight, that Tails realized his mistake. But it was too late to bring her back home now, not to mention all the driving had tired him out, so he apologized and offered that she could sleep here. He thanked himself for sleeping in nightshirts, and lent her his favorite, the lightblue one. It didn't matter what Cream was wearing, she always looked beautiful in it. 'No, she just _is_ beautiful.' Naturally, he should sleep on the couch, but she wanted to hear nothing of it. She wasn't going to let him get an aching neck after he had just taken her out on a wonderful date.

And so, with a little bit of shuffling and squeezing, they lay together in his bed. There wasn't a lot of room for movement left, and their bodies had to lie pressed closely against each other. The combined thickness of the nightshirts was even thinner than her dress had been, and he could feel clearly now that her fur was even softer than he ever imagined. Just as they were about to fall asleep, no doubt to dream about the other, they shared one last, long kiss. It was the perfect ending to a perfect night, and no-one would disturb them until the morning.

And then the doorbell rang. People never rang doorbells in the middle of the night, and at first, he just ignored it, not wanting to leave Cream's side for a moment. But after a minute, it went again, and with a groan, he got up and out of bed. Still in his nightshirt, he opened the door, and was surprised to see daylight. A woman from the post office wanted him to sign something, this time he actually read the paper before signing it. But this time it was really just a delivery confirmation, and after he signed it and gave it back, she just gave him a package, and left. He had other things on his mind right now, and after he had put it in the hallway, he quickly went upstairs again, to his bedroom, to where Cream was.

But she wasn't there. In fact, the bed looked as if it'd never been touched, it was still made. And when he looked at himself in the mirror, he wasn't wearing a nightshirt. Trudging back to his plane, he noticed the big package in the hallway. He had no idea how it got here, but it were probably just his plane parts. Upon seeing his plane, he slowly, and sadly, realized he'd been daydreaming again. Cream had never been here, there was no red cabrio sports car, and they hadn't walked along the beach. He had just been lying under his plane the whole time, imagining things that weren't there. That what he thought had been a steering wheel and gear lever, were in reality just a wrench and a hammer. The roaring engine of the sports car, it was just the soft hum of the electrical systems in the X-Tornado. And what he thought had been Cream, was just a rag. The radio actually was a radio in reality, too, but it had been him who had turned it on in the morning, not Cream. The only remaining mystery were the plane parts, but he wasn't interested in those anymore.

This wasn't the first time he'd been daydreaming about her, though they were starting to get awfully realistic, and frequent. They were starting to take a toll on how much work he got done, on how much sleep he got at night. And everytime, he woke up sad. Sad, that she wasn't there with him. He couldn't go on like this much longer, it had to come to and end, quickly. And there was only one way for it to end: tell Cream.

He looked at the clock, just in time to see it jump to 17:58. He promised himself he would get something to eat, take a shower, and then... he would go and tell her. But he had made that promise so often before, and he knew he wouldn't live up to it. Get something to eat, he usually got that far. A shower wasn't too difficult either, as it was usually necessary after lying under a plane all day. It was the part after that for which he always found some reason to postpone it to another day, tomorrow. But that was exactly how it's been going for the last few weeks, and if he didn't do anything, would go until eternity.

That was when he made the decision of a lifetime. Yes, he could use a quick snack right now. And yes, he would smell nicer if he took a shower first. But Cream was more important than that, and if she really loved him too, then she wouldn't care about it if he smelt a bit of oil. And with tears in his eyes, he added 'And if she doesn't... then... then at least I know...' While he hoped with all his heart that it wouldn't turn out like that, he knew it was still better than living in the uncertainty he did right now. So before he gave himself the chance to back out, he had already started his car and was out of the driveway. Driving, in his car, a red one, though not a sports car, nor a cabrio; driving, towards Cream, to tell her everything...


End file.
